Gomashio Furikake

This recipe comes by way of my wonderful sister in-law! I have not yet had the chance to try it, but she says it is delicious!

What she used:

* 100 g / 3.5 oz. raw sesame seeds (You can tell if the seeds haven’t been toasted yet if they are flat. Toasted sesame seeds puff up and become round.)
* 10g / .35 oz salt of your choice (I like to use a grey sea salt from Brittany, but any salt will do)
* About 1/2 cup (100ml or so) of water
* Sheet of Nori (dried seaweed)

Equipment needed: a large non-stick frying pan

Dissolve the salt in the water, until the grains are completely gone.

Spread the sesame seeds out in the frying pan. Over medium-low heat, stir around until the seeds start to ‘pop’. Take off the heat and keep stirring until the popping stops. (If you can only get a hold of toasted sesame seeds (in Japan this is pretty common; it’s called irigoma 炒りごま) you can skip this toasting step.)

Return the pan to the heat, and add the salt water. Stir around to distribute evenly. The seeds will clump up. Keep stirring over a medium-low heat - scrape off any salt that sticks to the pan. Keep stirring and scraping, until the water evaporates. The seeds will coated with fine salt crystals so that they look greyish in color, and will no longer be clumpy.

Take the pan off the heat and let the seeds cool in the pan - they’ll dry off better in the warm pan. Once they have cooled down completely and are totally dry, they can packed in an air-tight container. They will keep for about a month in a cool, dry place. (I just keep mine in the pantry, but you could keep it in your refrigerator too.)